To me, Bruce Springsteen is in a very particular category of singers along the likes of Neil Young and Bob Dylan, but not in a good way. What I mean is that I hate the way he sings. It’s questionable whether we can even call it singing in Bob Dylan’s case, but that’s for another time. Bruce is not a “good” singer. His pitch is about as accurate as the Doppler effect, he sounds like a drunk slurring his words and he moans most of his lyrics. But, oh, what lyrics they are. Nobody writes a song about the alienation and struggle of working-class life in rural America like Bruce, and he delivers the message with enough emotion to convince you that he personally has driven a long-hauler, unloaded shipping containers at the docks and worked on a factory assembly line for a living. He never did any of these things, of course, which is why his ability to empathize with others is so much more impressive.

What I’ve always loved about music is its ability to transcend the politics that poison our existence, which is why I tend to avoid overtly political artists. This might be my one gripe with Bruce’s lyrics. Born In The USA, for instance, is critical of the supposedly imperialist intervention in Vietnam by the USA. Left out of the equation is what the US was actively trying to prevent, namely the imperialist conquest of Vietnam by the Soviet Union and China. So, am I to take it that Bruce is in favor of communist imperialism? I suspect not, but this is why I tend to dislike political music; it almost always lacks nuance and ends up being naive. It’s easy to cater to one side and annoy the other, but much like a stand-up comedian, a good songwriter should be able to unite rather than divide the crowd. Nevertheless, Born In The USA was a phenomenal hit, although I maintain the album itself would have been near perfect if Cover Me was the first song, skipping the title track altogether. It’s interesting to speculate on what the title of the album would have been in that case. I’m On Fire, Glory Days or Dancing In The Dark, perhaps? Or maybe My Hometown? I didn’t say these would all be good. Born In The USA has a legendary album cover, but I can think of several creative covers for an album entitled I’m On Fire. Just saying.

But, I digress. As I was saying, Bruce may be a “bad” singer with questionable political takes, but the first time I heard Jungleland, I realized that none of it matters. The Promise, The Price You Pay, The River and Highway Patrolman are just a handful of songs that evoke such vivid imagery and emotion that it can all be forgiven. As phenomenal as Freddie Mercury was, he could never have pulled off a Bruce Springsteen song, and that might be the best compliment I can give.

Please enjoy what I would consider to be the perfect setlist for a concert by Bruce Springsteen. The last four tracks are the encore.